: Every Timeline Every Possibility :

[hexualhealing]

[ Forehead to forehead, and an explosion of light that fell around them in a symphony of time and space while the words reverberated within his mind, 'you are perfect the way that you are'. Their souls fused, in every timeline and every possibility there could only be them. Divine clarity, that was what it certainly was. Viktor was full of it, of the breath of Jayce's breath against his own and the certainty that they would find each other.

But gods, they could not be allowed to repeat their mistakes.

So many mistakes that could've been avoided if they had only known.

Wherever they went, whatever possibility they faced-- Viktor prayed that he would know, that he would be able to guide them away from the hubris of their own machinations, and the machinations of others. Especially for the man who braved hell so that he could be here at the end with him-- Jayce full of idealism and hope, who despite choices made could push all of it aside for the two of them, to give grace to the same man who could not understand that his own choices had been just as full of error.

Perhaps they could meet in the middle?

Underwater, Viktor had been underwater. He woke up in a start with the sun just peeking just above the horizon, trailing through his window with the first glimmers of morning. A deep breath like he had never breathed before in his entire life while air filled his gasping and aching lungs-- and that ache spread throughout his entire body.

Somewhere out there, Jayce was out there.

Waiting for him. "Every timeline, every possibility" he breathed as if it was a mantra.

There were memories of a life before this moment of wake-up, but it was coupled with the sudden infusion of life before, another era and another universe. Viktor had been given a second chance, and he would not squander it-- that is if he could find Jayce. Gods, Piltover was so big, and he was but one man; countless lives on the freeway of these souls, but he needed to find the exact one. Gods, what a challenge and with the limitations of his own body which he felt keenly.

But not weakness, never weakness as he forced himself out of bed and his body to cooperate with his own fragility. His cane was reached for and then he set about to go about his daily routine which came just as effortlessly as the time before all of this. ]

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[hexualhealing]

[ Perhaps Viktor should have expected this, he was not unused to the affection that Jayce displayed-- but still he was taken aback as he was drawn into those arms, able to look past that shoulder into a world that now existed as their new stage. Then his eyes softened and he rested his cheek against a shoulder.

His cane has already clattered to the ground, that too was fine. ]

It is me, Jayce-- it is me.

[ It felt like coming home, just as their last few moments had been where they had opted to end it for the good of humanity; he'd been afraid and yet Jayce had told him that he would not be alone, would never be alone. That they would be together in this.

Viktor was normally not emotional, however he could not help but a few feverish tears as he rested his not so gaunt (not yet) cheek against the other scientist's shoulder. He had remembered, remembered him and everything that they had done. He had known and that was why he'd been so aggressive in his friendship, because he recognized him. ]

I was searching for you.

[hexpectations]

[Jayce's arms tightened around him at those words. Simple beautiful words. His Viktor. The man he'd known and worked with and again and loved and loved and lost and found again at the very end when it mattered the most. A sound that couldn't decide if it wanted to be a laugh or a sob slipped free.]

I was looking for you too and I had no idea how to find you, and then I tripped over you. I didn't think you remembered me but I couldn't just let you go and... I am rambling.

[Rambling and not letting Viktor out of his arms for the moment. They were in the middle of the walkway but at least they were away from the crowds of the university and honestly Jayce didn't care anyway. The world could go around them.]

[hexualhealing]

You can ramble all you want, Jayce Talis--

[ He was not sure if they were free of Zaun and Piltover, all those machinations that had drawn them, but they had each other and that was all that mattered. He was not romantic and fate held only as much appeal as the man who had his arms wrapped around him.

Those golden eyes searched for Jayce's then and he offered the hint of a smile. ] Let me retrieve my cane and then we can continue on to your lab, I am not sure how much catching up we have-- as predictably before I came to in this body, my memories, I was focused on my research which... follows the same path as--

[ Hubris... ]

[hexpectations]

[The things Jayce would not do for that smile. And it had been so long since he'd seen it, too long since Viktor was flesh and blood and whole and looking at him like the world still held so much possibility for the both of them. He very reluctantly let the other man go, a bit sheepish at the fact that he'd been clinging to him quite so tightly.

Jayce crouched to scoop up the dropped cane, still on one knee as he handed it up to Viktor.]

Yeah, me too. On the road to Hextech and the Hexgate all over again. But this time... we have the benefit of hindsight. Both of us. And I... I'm so glad it's you, Viktor.

[hexualhealing]

Good.

[ Viktor accepted the cane from Jayce, and for a moment their eyes catch and he sees everything in full retrospect, the eyes and the forehead touch-- the promise that he would follow him into the dark; that they end this together. He finds himself reaching to lay his hand on a shoulder. ] And I am glad it is you too, we have much to discuss I think.

[ He was in his own mind, and Jayce was with his whole facilities as well. There was no stolen cores or stones, no council.. at least not on his part. Perhaps they could steer each other in the correct direction. ]

It's always been you, for me.

[ Forever, and in every lifetime. And he did not know what that meant except that whatever he had in his heart had been built up since their first meeting. ]

[hexpectations]

[Jayce wished for one reckless, breathless moment that he'd kissed Viktor in what he thought was their final seconds alive. But that was out of line, wasn't it? Whatever they were -- and oh they were something, were something intrinsically, irrevocably linked, souls woven through each other in a way that would never be undone -- they weren't lovers.

Even if those words on Victor's lips had him aching. It's always been you, for me. Certainly it didn't mean what Jayce wished it would mean. And that was fine. They had each other in this way, whatever it was, and Jayce would be content with having Viktor in his life as his dearest friend, his partner in so much.

He set a hand atop the one at his shoulder as he straightened up.]

For me, too. And it always will be. In all timelines, in all possibilities.

[Viktor's words from that timeless space, echoed back now because they were true and would always be true for Jayce as well.]

[hexualhealing]

[ Jayce really was thick, wasn't he? This was what came to Viktor's mind and allowed even more of a smile to crest over his lips, somehow deeper than what he usually did-- showing how much skin he really did not have to spare. Then he rested his hand lightly on that shoulder and looked up into those eyes that had gone the gamut from mist, to joy, to soft resignation and finally to hope and contentment.

His hand slipped out from under Jayce's in what one would think was a retreat and then very lightly cupped that jawline, strong and chiseled. ]

We have the ability to rewrite our story into whatever we wish-- we have knowledge of what went wrong and we can make it right, together.

[ He had not forgotten, he wrapped his hand at the back of neck and pulled down until their foreheads touched in such a simulacrum of their last moments before they exploded into a symphony of hex and successfully removed it from the playing board.

The most intimate gesture, far more intimate than even a kiss. This had been sufficient in the final moments to convey the depths of Jayce's feelings for him, and it carried with him. ]

[hexpectations]

[Jayce expected retreat. He even told himself he was okay with it, but the sudden rush of wonder and hope that flooded through him until it shone through his eyes belied that thought. He turned ever so slightly into that touch, though his gaze did not for one instant leave Viktor's face.]

Together.

[Jayce agreed softly, voice a whisper roughened through by too many emotions to properly name them all.]

I'm not letting you go this time. Everything went wrong the moment I let you walk away.

[He finally shut his eyes as their foreheads came to rest together. Close and intimate indeed, the rest of the world, of all worlds, falling away. And when stripped of all the noise and motion and complications, what was left was so heartbreakingly simple. He lifted his own hand, surprisingly gentle for the strength in it, cradling against Viktor's cheek, thumb running the razor sharp angle of cheekbone.]

Whatever my story winds up being, you're already written in my soul. And my heart. Vik... I... I'm saying too much, aren't I?

[So fucking close. So fucking far.]

[hexualhealing]

[ Viktor would probably debate and quite largely that things 'started' going wrong when he walked out the door wearing only the blanket that Jayce had wrapped around him. But that was for another day, certainly not their reunion.

His fingers dug lightly into the back of that neck, he could feel Jayce's emotions starting to spike and maybe that was the way that they had been etched and marked into each other; likely one of the positives of both their fusions into the Hexcore. A fond if albeit exasperated smile playing over his lips and then he pulled back but not away from the cupping of his own cheek. Here he was a cat-person, in possession of his own Scientist who bore all marks of moonlighting as a very loyal retriever. ]

You idiotic mess... [ This was said fondly, in that tone that was reminiscent of when they first met-- before Hex stole all of his emotion. ] It has always been you, in my heart and etched on my soul since the first moment I saw you pleading your case before the Council.

[ Viktor supposed that he should spell it out for him. ]

In those seven years, I fell in love with you.. it happened quickly, but I had an expiration date that was far far shorter than yours so I did not believe that I had any right to claim whatever it was, and so I was thankful when you developed something with Mel because it meant that you would be taken care of after I... [ He did not complete that sentance, he did not mean to. ] It just meant I needed to throw myself into Hex and race the clock to have something to show for it all.

[ There, he'd spelled it out. ] I still have a short expiration date, Jayce.

[hexpectations]

[They could debate it later. Jayce would concede they'd made a great number of mistakes along the way, but it would always be that moment where Viktor had left where a point of no return had been reached. If they'd stayed together, maybe they could have pulled each other back from that edge before it got to that final, terrible moment.

Now though he was not thinking about endings. Now he was listening in wonder as Viktor called him an idiot and then said the most incredible things.

And ah Mel, kind beautiful brilliant Mel. She deserved better than someone whose heart already belonged to someone else. Maybe they'd both known it too, deliberately choosing not to see it when he'd fled her bed to be at Viktor's side in the hospital. When the world had quite literally exploded around them, and all Jayce had thought for was Viktor and saving him. It always came back to Viktor. It always would.]

I've been in love with you too. Maybe I was too stubborn or dense to admit it, even to myself. But I love you. I love you, Viktor.

[He wanted to say to hell with expiration dates. They'd find a way around it. They had to. But that debate could wait too. So instead he only shook his head. ]

Then we shouldn't waste any more time.

[Jayce closed the distance between them to claim Viktor's lips with his own then, a soft but lingering kiss.]

[hexualhealing]

[ There was a lot of things that lingered around them, and it was things that had been ingrained in both of their DNA, unavoidable. But for right now he was in Jayce's arms, the only person he'd ever truly loved. Even when Sky had been with him, she'd known that his heart had only one person that it wanted, and while he valued her opinion and friendship, it could never be anyone other than Jayce.

When she'd said "no you won't" he understood what that meant.

So when Jayce's mouth came down on his, and it was his first kiss, their first kiss. And the warmth of Jayce suffused him even before contact was made, it was tender and gentle and it made him ache in a way that was quite unfamiliar to him; it was not the aching of joints which was a truism of his life, across many lives. But it was a deep heart ache made up of all the wasted time finally being filled up to the brim with love and affection.

There was no way he couldn't be affected, the kiss was not even deep; a brush of mouths and still it had his normally pale skin burning pink on the height of his cheekbones as he pulled back a little bit. It felt somewhat like a fever the way that the touch burned through him. ]

Is a kiss supposed to feel like I am fighting off some infection?

[hexpectations]

[Jayce had kissed people before, but oh something about this kiss, this first kiss with Viktor, it felt different. It felt like coming home, like falling into the arms that he belonged in. His hand still rested against Viktor's cheek, thumb keeping a slow, repeated caress against skin. His other hand moved to set at Viktor's hip, around to settle at the small of his back, urging him closer even as he took a step in himself.

When Viktor broke the kiss to speak, Jayce couldn't help a laugh.]

I kiss the man I love for the first time, and he starts talking about infections.

[Nerd. Huge nerd. Jayce adored him.]

I guess you're already sick of me, huh? Too bad there's no cure, and you're stuck with me anyway.

[The flush on Viktor's face was a very pretty look on him, and he couldn't resist pressing a kiss to one pink cheek.]

[hexualhealing]

[ Viktor's eyes noticibly softened, and in a way that he had looked at Jayce many a times while Jayce was busy talking about Hextech, their experiments they were doing for the good of the world-- both Zaun and Piltover. This time though Jayce could see it, the golden like honey texture they took as if they were as warm as the sunlight. ]

You have to admit that the surge of heat is a bit.. well it is almost like a fever, and I have had more fevers than I have had kisses.

[ and then feeling the brush of lips. ] Oh, if there is anything I wish to be cured of.. it is certainly not you.

[ He steadied himself once again though he did take that arm while his hand gripped his own cane tighter. ] Take me to see your laboratory, as I seem to recall that was a promise and a requisite to our 'date'.

[ Viktor knew that Jayce considered it a date, the Scientist was not fooling anyone. ]

[hexpectations]

It is like a fever, yeah. I'll give you that.

[Hot and dizzy and like the world around him was spinning, in a deliriously thrilling way. He smiled again, quite completely falling into those eyes and having no desire to try to escape again.]

Ah. So. You're onto my clever seduction plan, huh? A lab tour. The most classically romantic first date activity. How could anyone resist?

[Yeah, he considered it a date. He was hopeful about that when he thought that Viktor did not remember him. He was extremely hopeful about it now that they'd already shared a kiss. And Viktor had taken his arm again, and that was perfect, really.]

[hexualhealing]

[ Do not make him whack you with that cane, Jayce.

He started to walk alongside Jayce, using the other man as support as he allowed Jayce to guide him. The plan was perhaps flawless because Viktor was notoriously fascinated by science, research and books. They were what you had to line the trail with in order to 'capture' him; and he had done an excellent job of it at the beginning though he had not actually gone through with the capture part.

And not having divine knowledge perhaps would have put a wrench in that.

Now though? He knew that they had an infinite number of lives to pass through. ]

So let me form a hypothesis, you are going to play me with all your books and then while I am not looking you are going to make sure that I eat and drink suitably.

[hexpectations]

[Jayce realistically understood that his future would involve being whacked with Viktor's cane. And he was all right with that. He led the way for the rest of the short walk to his laboratory in this reality, funded by the investment and grants of the Kiramman family.

Different dressing on the same skeletons of their previous lives, wasn't it? But it would be different this time.

He stepped forward to pull open the door to the building before ushering Viktor inside.]

You're on the right track, but your hypothesis is missing a few key elements. I also intend to make certain you sleep and maybe even exercise occasionally.

[His plans were very thorough, Viktor, and newly included spooning as part of the strategy to coax Viktor into sleeping like a human being.]

[hexualhealing]

Exercise? Bah!

[ In true Viktor fashion even as he walked into the building, then he surveyed to see if there were steps, though he would manage well enough if there was; he remembered making the trudge up the steps leading to Jayce's work area-- and somedays in order to avoid going up and down, he generally spent the night, crashing on the couch to avoid having to make the trek back upward.

Though for the sake of science, he'd put himself through a lot of discomfort (which should be pretty concerning, truth told.). ]

[hexpectations]

[Jayce laughed, boisterous and bright, shaking his head.]

You are impossible, honestly.

[The words were fond though, a lightness in Jayce that he hadn't felt in such a long time. He did pause to lean in, lips a breath away from Viktor's ear as he murmured,] You know, the right sort of exercise can be fun. I'll show you.

[Threat, promise? Both.

Viktor would be spared having to climb too many steps, thankfully. This building had an elevator and Jayce would lead them to the lift and then up to his lab -- top floor, lovely view. Though Viktor would discover that one small room had been repurposed into a makeshift bedroom -- a comfortable enough cot in the corner and a pile of blankets --because Viktor was not the only scientist with terrible work-life balance skills.]

[hexualhealing]

Jayce Talis, that is... that is.. you are incorrigible.

[ Thank goodness for elevators, this was a bit more forethought then he could've dreamed of, that would perhaps give him an extra year or two just for not having to manage steps-- and he knew that Jayce loved wide sweeping views of things that he loved.

There was a disarray to it that was predominately the way of being in this field. Stacks of papers, coffee mugs half drunk and cold, pens scattered in places you would not think a pen could be. This place looked very much like Jayce and he surveyed it.

Then back at Jayce as he carefully did a methodical circle around the room. ] This reminds me of the best seven years of my life. [ It felt very much like their world, what it had been and what it once again would be. ]

[hexpectations]

You don't know the half of it.

[But he would find out.

Jayce settled back against the wall of his lab, watching as Viktor took it in. It was true; all of it was exactly the sort of ordered chaos that both of them had thrived in, where sometimes they forgot about their needs as human beings in the pursuit of knowledge and science.

His expression softened into a smile at that comment, looking at Viktor in his lab.]

Yeah, now it does.

[Which really did raise the question,] So, when are we moving your research in here?

[hexualhealing]

Tomorrow, if you wish.

[ There was no protestations from himself, he could move his research comfortably though his own research laboratory at the Academy was part and parcel of his position-- he could move a great many things of the more sensitive in nature here and none would be the wiser. It was practical, and it would mean that they could spot check each other when needed.

He glanced over at Jayce and saw the way that he was looking at him with that heart-on-the-sleeve sort of expression that made him weak, he almost had to look away for fear of drowning in it. It was something he could very much enjoy if given the chance. ]

Tonight is not practical as it is dark and carrying research materials in the darkness does not strike me as a very good time, but first thing tomorrow as the sun starts to rise, we can do it. The University should still be fairly empty, most of the Professors and Students enjoy later hours.

[hexpectations]

Tomorrow is perfect.

[It was practical, really, in order to work together as they both clearly wanted to. It would be better to hold each other in check, to play the balance that each of them needed. And it would keep them close, which Jayce wanted.

He pushed up and away from the wall, walking over towards Viktor, nodding his agreement. First thing in the morning made sense, fewer people to be about to ask questions. Jayce, who'd now decided he'd been given permission for doing all the flirting and touching and sappy things he'd thought of doing and held back from before, reached out to catch up Viktor's hand in his, lifting it so he could press a kiss to the back of his knuckles.]

So... that means you're spending the night, right? Since, you know, we'll be getting such an early start. It's just the efficient thing to do.

[hexualhealing]

[ Damn it, Jayce wooing him with talk of efficiency-- but also those lips against his hand did something to him, caused his pupils to dilate and the spike in body temperature that once again felt like a fever. It was going to be one problematic trying to determine if he was feverish or just.. well, aroused. ]

I did not bring anything to wear, does that mean you will be lending me something to sleep in?

[ He had not meant for his breath to go that husky, perhaps the thought of swimming in Jayce's shirt or a blanket, or something-- anything. ] You know how much of a proponent I am for efficiency, so I do not see why I cannot spend the night.. that is if you have space for me.

[hexpectations]

[Jayce turned Viktor's hand in his own, lips pressing to the inside of that slender wrist now, lingering there, feeling the faint beat of a pulse beneath his lips. Was it his imagination that it had quickened? He didn't think it was.]

Of course.

[Viktor wasn't the only one who was enjoying the thought of him in one of Jayce's shirts. Or, well, in nothing but Jayce's arms. That was another option too, and one that was incredibly appealing.]

There's space for you. Always.

[hexualhealing]

[ It was not in Jayce's imagination at all, he could feel his own reaction to this spiking with the press or warm lips right there at his wrist where the pulse seemed to livewire through his body, and then he was catching his own lower lip between his teeth-- as he did when he was concentrating, but it was on those eyes.

He did not feel hunted, no there was nothing predatory about Jayce; what he did feel was an overwhelming ache, a desire to shove all talk or science for later. And that was wholly the ache talking, where it centered deep inside him, throbbing as his every sharp gaze followed Jayce. ]

You are what they call a menace.

[ He stepped in closer, and it had everything to do with gravity. ] You are making me very intrigued by biology, it is not a subject that I have indulged with, at least not the type that I am thinking of right at this moment.